Velvet Assassin £6.95 @ ShopTo [Xbox 360 Games]

Velvet Assassin delivered an intruiguing take on the World War II and stealth genres, but a few flaws and some mediocre reviews cast it out of the limelight at the time. However, ShopTo are now retailing at £6.95, which will save you £2.50 compared to Coolshop. It's a niche title to be sure... but at this price, stealth fans should probably take a closer look.

Gaming is completely stuffed full of World War Two titles. We've relieved every major battle, visited every front and participated in every bloody offensive, but Velvet Assassin takes a completely different tack. Rather than focusing on high action and burly All-American apple pie-guzzling protagonists, it allows you to enter the tense and ever-so-slightly disturbing world of resistance espionage. Deployed into occupied WW2 France and Germany, beautiful and deadly SIS agent Violette Summer is tasked with retrieving secret documents, assassinating key personnel and generally being a thorn in the Fuhrer's side.

What follows is an inconsistent Hitman-style stealth experience, with the ability to silently kill enemies, steal the uniforms or just sneak around them. Unfortunately, the core stealth mechanics feel a little broken... and even when they work, missions tend to descend into mindless shooting. In an odd twist for a stealth title, Violette can enter a trippy (and really nasty) blood frenzy where she can brutally execute opponents., which literally never gets old. Which is more than you can say for some of the shooting sections.

Velvet Assassin has an intriguing premise and storyline (based on some true events, no less), but inconsistent design decisions let this title down on a fairly basic level. Still, for £6.95, it's well worth a look for fans of the genre who've blown through the staggeringly short Splinter Cell Conviction.